Spinning-frame controller



F. L. ROXBROUGH.

SPINNING FRAME CONTROLLER.

, APPUCATIQN FILED OCT. 3, 1919. 1,358,397.

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SPINNING FRAME CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig.2.

Irwvemtcar- Frederick Llqoxbrough,

His Attorney.

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK L. ROXBROUGH, F PITISFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, AS SIG NOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION 01* NEVI YORK.

SPINNING-FRAJEE- CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

Application filed October 3, 1919. Serial No. 328,213.

all 101 i om it may concern:

known that l, Finionnron L. lionnnooori, a citizen of the United States, re-

s]: 73w." D..-.i' siding at i ittsneld, county of neilisnire, State of Massachusetts, have invented cerin new and useful Improvements in Spin- FY3136 Controllers, of which the fola specification. my invention relates to the control of texilo machinery such as spinning frames and he like, and has for its object the provision of an improved. means for controlling the speed of the driving motor in accordance with the movement of the ring rail oi the spinning machine so as to maintain the tension of the yarn substantially constant. In a prior application for patent to Ed vin D. Boles and Emil A. Untersee, filed December :20, 1912, Serial No. 208,102, and assigned to the same assignee of this invention, there is disclosed a form of device for causing the speed of the motor to vary in accordance with the rise and fall of the ring rail. The motor controller is located within the end shield of the motor, thereby making the controller and the motor a self-contained unit connected with the machine only by the driving shaft and by a small shaft which operates the controller. Means are also provided whereby the controlling mechanism may be returned instantly to its initial position at the end of a dofl.

My invention is of the same general type of controller and it provides an improved arrangement having features of simplicity, ruggedness, accessibility, and a nicety of adjustment "for accomplishing in general the same purposes as devices of the above mentioned application for patent.

ther objects and purposes of my invention will appear in the course or" the following specification, in which I have shown my invention embodied in concrete form for purposes of illustration.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that l have illussrated only such parts of the spinning frame as seem essential for the disclosure of my invention, since spinning frames are old and well known and my invention does not depend in any way upon the construction of the spinning machine.

in the accompanying'drawings illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a general view of a portion of the spinning trams, driving motor and controller, and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view oi the motor showing my improved controller in the end shield.

Referring to Fig. 1, 10 represents the usual rollers, 11 the wire eye, and 12 the ring rail on which is mounted the ring 13 carrying the traveler it of an ordinary ring spinning frame. In order to simplify the drawings much as possible, I have simply shown the ring rail in a conventional manner as being operated by a lever 15, pivoted at 16. One end oi: the lever'is pivoted to the lower end oi the rod 17, the upper end of which is secured to the ring rail so that the ring rail moves up and down with the rod 17. The other end of the lever carries a weight 18 for raising the ring rail. The builder mechanism is also illustrated conventionally as. consisting of a cam 19 driven through suitable gearing by an electric motor M. The lever is operated so as to raise the weight 18 by a flexible cord 20 having one end attached to a segmental. arm 21 of the lever 15 while the other end or" the cord is attached to one end of the lever 22, pivoted at 23, and adapted to be rotated about its pivot by the cam 19. A rod 24:, pivoted to the lever 22, extends upward and has in its up per end a roller 25 which engages the face of the cam 19, so that as the cam rotates the rod will be forced downward so as to depress the end of the lever 22 to which the cord 20 is attached. The lever is raised by a weight 26 which holds the roller 25 in engagement with the face of the cam in the upward movement. In order to advance the ring rail T have provided nieansior gradually lengthening the cord. This is done by having the cord mounted upon a shaft 2"? driven by a worm wheel 28. This worm wheel is driven by a worm 29 mounted on a shaft 30, to the end o1 which is secured a ratchet wheel 81. Cooperating with the ratchet wheel is a iixed pawl 32 so arranged rail in a well-known manner.

.As a means for varying the speed of the inotoigl have illustrated a speed-varying device of the well-ltnown brush-shitting type, although my invention is not necessarily limited to this particular.speedyarying means, since it is also applicable to other well known speed varying elements or devices. As shown the brushes 33 of the motor are attached to a yoke 34 which is adapted to reciprocate back and forth to shift the brushes. This yoke is reciprocated by a mechanism which T'shall now describe.

The brush-shifting mechanism or controller receives its motion from the spinning frame by a small shaft which extends through the motor frame. This shaft is driven from the shaft on which the cam 19 is mounted by a sprocket chain 35 and sprocket wheel 36. On this shaft is a cam 37 of substantially the same shape as the cam 19 and is rotated at the same rate as the cam 19.

The I operating member for the brush yoke 1s a pivoted arm 38 which is connected to the brush yoke 34by a piyotal connection in the form of an adjustable member 39. The connection between the arm 38 and the brush yoke is ad usted by sliding the arm 38 through thepivotally mounted member 39 until the proper position is reached and thearm 38 is secured in thatposition by the .set screw 40. The upper end ofthe arm 38 is pivotally connected to a lever 41 fulcrumed in a radial slot in one arm of a bell crank lever 42 by the set screw 43. The end of the other arm of the bell crank lever 42 carries a roller 44 adapted to engage the face of the cam 37 so that as the cam rotates it will force the arm 38 downward and consequently shift the brush yoke 34. The arm to the left hand end of lever 41 and the upper end .of which is rotatably mounted on the fiat surface of a rotatable ratchet disk 47.' The upper end of the link 46 is adapted for radial adjustment with respect to the ratchet disk 47 by means of radial slots. When the upper end of the link 46 has been adjusted .to the proper position in the corresponding radial slot, it is secured in that position by means of the set screw 48, the arrangement being such, however,

that the upper end of the link 46 is capable of rotation with respect to the surface of the ratchet disk 47. rotates, it will carry the link 46 with it and thereby increase the effective radius of the connection between the arm 38 and the lever 43. This disk is gradually rotated by means As the ratchet disk 4.7

adjustable eccentric 51, the right hand end of which is connected with and rotated by the cam 37. The pawl 49 is biased into engagement with the ratchet teeth by means of a spring 52. The eccentric 51 is made adjustable by constructing it of two parts, one

part having a slot within which a set screw 53 slides, the arrangement being such that thenumber of ratchet teeth to be picked by the pawl 49 can be predetermined by moving the left hand end of the part 51 with respect to the right hand end to positions indicated by the graduations on the right hand end, when the set screw 53 is tightened and the pawl 49 will continue to pick the number of ratchet teeth thus predetermined. Upon each revolution of the cam 37, the pawl 49 will therefore turn the ratchet disk clockwise determined by the number of teeth picked by the pawl. This ratchet disk is rotated against the tension spiral spring 54, one end of which is secured to the disk while the other end is stationary. A pawl 55 holds the ratchet disk in position against the spring tension, and tie disk is released so as to permit it to return to its initial position in response to spring tension by lifting the two pawls '55 and 49. This is accomplished 'by an arm; acting on the pawl 55 directly and through the pawl the pawl 49. The arm 56 is operated by means of a rod 57.

From the above it will be seen that as the ring rail rises and falls, the brush yoke 34 will be shifted back and forth'to increase and decreasethe speed of the motor over a definite range, and at the same time the range is advancedby the rotation of the ratchet disk 47; operating against the'spring tension .so that when the (loft is completed, the controller mechanlsm will return to its normal position by a similar movement of a handle attachedtoa rod 57. It "will also be seen thatthe mechanism is so mounted and arranged as to be included in the 'end shield 58 of the motor, there being no connection between the controller within the end shield and the spinning machine other than the shaft on which the gear 36and a cam 37 mounted. The motor and controller are,

therefore, a "self containe'd unit which can be easily installed.

The ease with which adjustments may be made and the nicety of the adjustments possible are features of my invention. When the empty bobbin firststarted, the speed is se'tat the minimum. This is necessary on account of ballooning of the thread due to the high speed of the spindle. If the threads balloon too mucht-hey touch and break. To set this minimum speed, the set screw 40 is loosened and the brush yoke 3e is moved toward the upperend of the arm 38 until the proper speed is obtained, and the set screw is then locked. The second step is to set the builder speed. As the rail on the spinning frame rises and falls, the speed of the motor changes in time with the rail. The maximum speed is used when the rail is down and the minimum speed with the rail at the top. A. variation of from 30 to 100 It. PnM. is used according to the number and kind of yarn being spun. This variation is obtained by the three leafed cam 37 moving the bell crank lever 1-2 which in turn moves the arm 38 and the brush yoke 34-. Adjustment of this variation is made by loosening the screw 43 and moving the same toward the center of the cam lever 42 for the minimum speed and away from the center for the maximum speed. The third step is to set the maximum speed of the motor which should ordinarily occur when the bobbin is approximately three-fourths full, as the ballooning of the thread at this point is reduced to the minimum. The speed is usually reduced from this point on as the tension on the thread increases until the full bobbin is obtained. The maximum speed is set by moving the ratchet disk'? in a clockwise direction until thelink 46 is over the center of the ratchet disk. The screw 48 is then loosened and the upper end of the link 46 moved toward the center of the ratchet disk until the proper speed is obtained. The fourth step is to set the number of teeth to be picked in order that the ratchet disk will revolve approximately 150 degrees in the same time it takes to fill a bobbin. The screw 53 is loosened and the left hand end of the eccentric 51 is moved until the end comes in line with the proper line indicating the number of picks to be taken. This adjustment regulates the length of stroke for the pawl and in turn the number of picks taken, the object being to have had the ratchet wheel revolve approximately 120 degrees when the bobbin is three-fourths full, at which time the link 46 attached to the ratchet disk is over the center of the ratchet disk. When the disk is revolved the last 30 degrees, the link 4i6 moves downwardly, lowering the speed and reducing the tension of the thread until the bobbin is full. At this point all the teeth on the disk will have been picked and the disk can revolve no further. This eliminates any chances of breaking the controller. in speed are to be used with diiferent yarn but a diiierent range is desired, the set screw 40 is loosened and the brush yoke 34 is adjusted to another position.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle of operation of my invention together If the same variations with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative, and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1'. The combination with a ring spinning machine or the like, of an electric motor for driving the same, means for varying its speed, comprising a speed varying element, a pivoted member reciprocated in accordance withthe rise and fall of the ring rail, a lever having its fulcrum on the pivoted member, a link having one end connected to the speed varying element and the other end connected to one end of said lever, and means for moving the other end. of said lever to constantly change the radius of action of the point of connection between the link and the one end of the lever so as to shift the range of movement of the speed varying element in accordance with the advance of the ring rail.

2. The combination with a ring spinning machine or the like, of an electric motor for driving the same, means for varying its speed, comprising a speed varying element, a pivoted member reciprocated in accordance with the rise and fall of the ring rail, a lever having its fulcrum on the pivoted member, a

link having one end connectedto the speed varying element and the other end connected to one end of saidlever, and means co'mprising a rotary member connected to the other end of said lever and moved a definite angular distance with each reciprocation of the ring rail, for constantly changing the radius of action of the point of connection between the said link and lever so as to shift the range of movement of the speed varying element in accordance with the advance of the ring rail.

8. The combination with a ring spinning machine or the like, of an electric motor for driving the same, means for varying its speed, comprising a speed varying element, a pivoted member reciprocated in. accordance with the rise and fall of the ring rail, a lever having its fulcrum on the pivoted member and means for shifting the fulcrum of the lever with respect to the pivoted member, a link having one end connected to the speed varying element and the other end connected to the other end of said lever, and means for moving the other end of said lever to constantly change the radius of action. of the point of connection between the link and the one end of said lever so as to shift driving the same, means for varying its speed, comprising a speed varying element, a pivoted member reciprocated in accord ance with the rise and fall of the ring rail,

a lever having its fulcrum on the pivoted member, a link having one end connected to the speed varying element and the other end connected to one end of said lever, means comprising a-rotary member connected to the other end of said lever for constantly changing the radius of action of the point of connection between the said linkand-lever so as to shift the range of movement of the speed varying element, means for rotating the said rotary member step by step in accordance with the advance of the ring rail, 7

and means for-varying the angulardistance therotary member is rotated at eachstep.

between the said link andleverso as to shift the range 01 movement "of the speed varying'element in accordance with the advanceof the ring rail, comprising a spring return ratchet disk connected to the other end of said lever, means for rotating the disk step by step against the spring tension, comprising a pawl operated in accordance with therise and fall of the ring rail, and means for varying the angular distance the ratchet disk is moved at each step.

6. The combination with a ring spinning machine or the like having a bobbin to be filled, of an electric' motor for driving the machine, meansfor varying its speed, comprising a speedvarying element, a pivoted member reciprocated in accordance with the rise and fall of the ring rail, a lever having its fulcrnmon thepivoted member, a link having oneendconnected to the speed varyingelement and the ctherend connected to one-end of said lever, and means comprising a rotary member connected to the other end of said lever and moved'a definite angular distance with each reciprocation of the ring mail, for constantly changing the radius of action of thepoint of connection between the said link and lever to shift the range o'zt movement of the speed varying element in accordance with the advance of the ring rail, and an ad ustable connection between "the said rotary member and the said other end of said lever whereby the speed of the motor is caused to reach and then recede from a maximum at a predetermined time in the filling of the bobbin.

In witness whereof, l have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of September,

FREDERICK L; ROXBROUGH. 

